Playa
Playa is the default name given to the protagonist and customizable character in Def Jam Icon. Biography Not much is know about Playa's past but as stated by Platinum, he used to spray graffiti on delivery trucks. He and Platinum (known as Patricia as the time) met and befriended eachother at a young age. They would often tease each other on the playground in grade school, but it was usually to cover a genuine pre-adolescent crush. They have not seen each other since growing up. Def Jam Icon Playa's story starts at The Club, where he gets into a fight with Big Herc. This action impresses Curtis Carver, who offer him a position in his record company. Playa then gets overcome with excitement, explaining to Carver about all his skills and ideas, prompting Carver to slow him down and tell him to keep it simple for the time being in order to see how his talent fits in. Carver then asks him where he lives, and Playa tells him that he's close to being homeless. He then tells Tiny, the large man who had asked Playa to meet Carver, to set Playa up with a house. Playa acknowledges Carver's generosity, but asks him what price he had to pay for the house, at which Carver replies that all he needs is his loyalty, adding that he has a good feeling about him. Playa then helps Carver with various jobs including helping Ludacris with a stalking fan, budget Luda's song "Get Back" and recruit new artists. After signing his first artist, Carver will ask Playa to join him at the club to celebrate. In the club, he can be seen engaging in a toast with Carver, the artist and Christine Dolce. After the toast, Troy Dollar interrupts the celebration by walking in with Dae Dae and a woman, later revealed to be Platinum, and jokingly asking why he wasn't invited to the party. Carver then jokingly says that he didn't know Troy was in town. In the middle of the conversation, the camera briefly shows Playa and Platinum looking at each other, somewhat intimately. Carver then asks Troy to leave, to which Troy insults Carver by saying that he didn't realize that Carver was still in business, adding that he forgets how old Carver is. Enraged, Playa stands up to confront Troy, but is stopped by Carver, who then introduces him to Troy and advises him not to take his label for granted. Troy then offers Playa and the artist his business card, trying to persuade them to join his label if they wanted to make a lot money, and leaves the club with Dae Dae and Platinum. Later on, Wink, Carver's vice president, will inform the player on potential sample leaks and other issues that need to be dealt with. On one occasion, a man (later revealed to be Greer) will offer to buy the player a drink after his fight, but Playa and Carver will walk away in rejection. However, Troy Dollar sends the player a message telling him to meet at his office in Los Angeles to solve Curtis Carver's sampling leaking problems. At the office, Troy later reveals the leak in Carver's record label to be Wink. Playa is then prompted to beat up Wink, after which Carver appoints him Vice President of the record label, after which he is moved to The Penthouse as his new home. After Playa's fight with Wink, an unknown sender informs him that his artist (the first signing) scrapped with an off-duty police officer and advises him to handle the situation before it gets out of hand. Before signing his third artist, Platinum will have sent Playa a message telling him to meet her at the club. After he signs his artist, the game moves into a sequence where Platinum, who's real name is Patricia, catches up on old times with Playa. Later, he asks Platinum whether they can talk in a more quiet place, and is spotted taking her out of the club by Wink. After signing his third artist, the one Playa rejected will send him a message saying that he will be going to his house to discuss the way his disrespect. After the fight with the artist, the Penthouse will be messed up and he will have to return to his previous home while Carver takes care of the damages caused. After Carver hears about the artist who scrapped with the off-duty police officer, he instructs Playa to go and smooth things out with him before things spiral out of control, and later even asks him to make a contribution to David Jacobson's campaign (with options of nothing, US$ 500 and US$ 50,000) so as to relieve some of the pressure on the label. Later in the game, Luda sends Playa a message, telling him to meet at the club to celebrate. After another fight, the game moves into a sequence where Luda and Playa are walking towards his Cadillac Escalade. However, Wheatly (Robert Dolan) pops up and asks him whether the vehicle belongs to him. He then tells him that his tags are expired, to which Playa protests, telling Wheatly that it is a brand new car and that its tags are still valid. Wheatly continues to insist that the tags are expired, and Playa jokes that he probably also has a broken tail light. While joking, Greer sneaks up behind him and punches him in the spine, while Wheatly points his gun at Luda. Wheatly then tells him that he's resisting arrest, to which Playa replies by telling him to get rid of his badge and his weapon so that they can see "who the real man is". Wheatly then warns him that he runs the city clean, and that if he continued to carry out his activities he would pay the price. Afterwards, while walking away with Greer, Wheatly jokingly says that Luda and Playa owe him because he gave them something to rap about, then instructs Playa to get his tags fixed. Back at the Penthouse, which has since been fixed, Carver sends Playa a message warning him to be careful around Wheatly. Troy also sends him a message, mocking him about his brush with Wheatly and Greer. The police's influence immediately begins to affect Playa's artist (who fought the off-duty cop), who asks Playa to go and deal with an officer who is shadowing him. Later, Playa heads to an award show, where Dae Dae is waiting to retaliate for the damage that one of Playa's third artist had previously caused in Troy's office while fighting one of his artists. After that fight, Playa informs Luda that when he reached home he found a package containing a chip and that he sent it to him in order to seek advice. Playa's second artist later sends the player a message saying that he feels that the police are close to getting him arrested. The player is then given a mission to fight as the artist to make it hard for Greer to arrest him, after which it is announced on BET News that the artist has been arrested, to which senator David Jacobson makes a reply in a press conference. Carver sends an angry message to Playa and urges him to figure out what is going on. Wheatly also sends a message, telling him that he was indeed warned about what would happen if he didn't "play nice", and that he had to remember that he was to blame for his artist's incarceration. It is later revealed by the unknown messenger that Wink, for revenge, helped the crooked cops arrest the artist. Luda also sends a message warning him about what would happen if he wasn't careful, and informing him that the chip he was sent was a SIM chip, and that whoever it came from probably wanted it plugged in. Luda also warns him to be careful with it as he could never know who was messing with him. Later, Playa invites Platinum over, and during their time together, she informs him that Wheatly and his crooked cops are on Troy Dollar's payroll and convinces him not to take action immediately, adding that if Troy knew about his knowledge of his arrangements with Wheatly it would find its way back to her and ruin their relationship. Later on in the game, Gooch (Method Man), an old friend of Playa's, sends a message saying that he's on his way to meet him. Dae Dae also decides to confront Playa at his house, leaving you back at your previous home a second time in order to give Carver space to fix the damages. However, Carver warns that putting Dae Dae in the hospital would enrage Troy Dollar, and instructs him to stay available so that he can keep in touch about something. Tiny, Carver's bodyguard, ends up explaining he mission, in which Playa has to retrieve some files from Big Herc. After the mission, it is announced on BET News that Carver is being engaged in a federal investigation for potential money laundering activity. After the mission, Carver explains to the player in a message that a man called Rush was a hip hop icon, but just disappeared one night because of being caught up in the same situations Playa is finding himself in. Carver adds that Rush taught him everything he knows and that he misses him every day. He decides that it's time they had a one-on-one conversation so that he can explain to him what they are up against. Another message, from the unknown sender, explains that the SIM chip was sent to Playa so as to deal with all the trouble, as it is untraceable and conversations on it are safe as long as it is not used to call people who might want to trace the call back. The game then goes back to the meeting between Carver and Playa at the beginning of the story, and after Carver is shot, Playa checks to see if Carver is okay. While doing so, Wheatly and Greer approach him, armed, and attempt to put him under arrest. Playa tries to convince them that he didn't commit the crime, but Greer shows a gun and claims it's the murder weapon. Playa insists that it isn't his, and Wheatly replies by saying that he has people who say it's his. Playa then headbutts Wheatly and runs away. In an announcement on BET News back at the Penthouse, Rocsi says that eyewitnesses suggest it may have been Carver's Vice President (Playa) who committed the murder, and in a press conference David Jacobson says that he has assembled a taskforce to solve the crime. Playa is then sent messages by his artists and girlfriend(s), expressing their disappointment and urging the player to dissociate with them. Playa's financial assets are also frozen by federal authorities. At the same time, however, Gooch informs Playa that he's ready to meet with him. The unknown sender urges you in another message to take the phone with the SIM chip and get away from the Penthouse. Before exiting his home, Playa cautiously checks to see if there's anyone following him outside the door, but Greer barges in and attempts to arrest him. After fighting Greer, Playa returns to his previous home with Gooch, who suggests that they escape New York City. However, Playa insists that they are staying put to deal with Troy Dollar and Wheatly. Suddenly, Platinum walks into the house and talks with him. She asks him what he plans to do when he says he's going to "sort things out", and after learning of his and Gooch's plans, she warns that Troy will kill them. Playa insists that he'll be fine, and when Platinum offers help, he refuses, but Platinum insists that because she loves him too much, he can't stop her from helping him and Gooch. Most of the time from this point is spent fighting Troy's artists as both Playa and Gooch in order to know of Troy's whereabouts. Later on, the unknown sender sends a wire to him so as to get Troy's and Wheatly's confessions on tape. Troy invites him to his office in order to settle things once and for all. Playa is brought to the office by two of Troy's workers (Kano and Tego), after which Troy asks them to go and retrieve a Persian rug he had been meaning to get cleaned. Alone, Troy expresses his anger towards Playa for roughing up his players, messing up his business and, most annoyingly, stealing his girlfriend (Platinum). Playa then expresses his anger towards Troy for shooting Carver, to which Troy replies by saying that he wasn't the only enemy Carver had. Playa stands by his decision by reminding Troy that Wheatly works for him and that he's the prime suspect. Before the fight, Playa insults Troy's large size, and afterwards, Wheatly enters the office and shoots him in the face. Before losing consciousness, Wheatly tells him about how he was set up with the murders of Carver and Troy (Wheatly shot Troy while talking to him). Moments later, Playa regains consciousness and finds himself being buried by Greer. He then spots Platinum walking up to Wheatly and hugging him, before losing consciousness again. A few moments after that, he regains consciousness again, and finds himself being dug up by Gooch, who tells him that he got Wheatly's confessions on tape. While Gooch carries him, he loses consciousness a third time. Afterwards, the story goes into a scene where Dr. Chang (James Hong) can be seeing taking care of and talking to Playa. He informs him that he was shot twice and is still alive, but needed a surgery to completely rebuild his face. At this point, the player is given the opportunity to recreate his character, like at the beginning of the game. However, only the character's facial features, fighting style and fight song can be changed, and the player can decide to let his character remain the same, after which he is still not recognized by anyone except Gooch after that. After the sequence, the story shows a news bulletin covering the death of Troy, in which Rocsi also stated that the same suspect that was caught entering Troy's office on security cameras appeared to be the same suspect accused of killing Carver. Since Playa is injured, he cannot be used, and the player fights one of the artists he rejected in the past as Gooch, in order to convince him to hand over a disc of his latest material. After the fight, a news bulletin shows that Platinum merged the remains of Carver's and Troy's record labels, and that she left Wink responsible for artists' recruitment and management. After the surgery, Gooch is surprised at Playa's new look. He then asks him the price for the surgery, and Chang informs them that their friend already paid. Suddenly, Rush (Russell Simmons) walks into the room, to Playa's surprise. He then finds out that Rush was the unknown sender. Rush then urges him to use his new face to start a new life, but Gooch insists that he should use it to hit back at Platinum, using the tape to his advantage. Later, the artist Gooch fought sends him a message saying that if he could get Platinum to sign him, they'd be all good. Playa's next target is Wink, who is having an open mic event, so as to give Wink the tape to give to Platinum. After the fight, he receives a message from Wink saying that he managed to get an appointment with Platinum for him. In the meeting with Platinum, Playa hands her a CD, which is revealed to be a copy of the tape with Wheatly's confessions on it. Wheatly takes the CD and breaks it, instructs Greer to get rid of Playa and leaves the office with Platinum, assuring her that it wasn't anything worth worrying about. After the fight with Greer, he heads up to the roof to fight Wheatly. After the fight, Playa sees Platinum trying to avoid the tail of the helicopter (one of the hazards in the Roof stage), after which she is swiped of the building. Playa walks to the end of the building to see if Platinum is gone, but he finds her hanging on to a metal beam. While pleading with him to save her, Platinum learns his identity when he says "My ride or die chick", something he told her back at the house while they were with Gooch. Platinum tries to convince him that all of this was Wheatly's plan, and that she'll testify against him in court and sign a confession. Shortly afterwards, Wheatly shoots Platinum in the back, after which he has to fight Wheatly once again. After the fight, Platinum apologises to Playa before dying in his arms, after which he lays her down and remains standing. As the game moves into a scene where Playa, Gooch, Mayra Veronica and Christine Dolce can be seen talking in the club, Greer and Jacobson can be heard talking over the phone in the background. Towards the end of the conversation, where Jacobson instructs Greer to find out who the new player is, Greer says he got "one guy left" and Wink can be seen extending his hand to Playa, before the scene goes into the game's closing credits. Quotes Trivia *Playa was voiced by Avery Waddell, best known for voicing the main character, Marcus Reed, in the 2005 open world action-adventure video game, True Crime: New York City. Category:Characters From Def Jam Icon Category:Fighters Category:Heroes